AN AMERICAN DICTIONARY.

257

" In a few instances," he says, " the common
usage of a great and respectable portion of
the people of this country accords with the
analogies of the language, but not with the
modern notation of English orthoepists. In
such cases it seems expedient and proper to
retain our own usage. To renounce a prac-
tice, confessedly regular for one confessedly
anomalous, out of respect to foreign usage,
would hardly be consistent with the dignity
of lexicography. When we have principle
on our side, let us adhere to it. The time
cannot be distant when the population of
this vast country will throw off their lead-
ing-strings, and walk in their own strength;
and the more we can raise the credit and
authority of principle over the caprices of
fashion and innovation, the nearer we ap-
proach to uniformity and stability of prac-
tice."

The absence of the finer qualities of schol-
arship in Webster's composition is indi-
cated by his somewhat rough and ready
treatment of the subject of pronunciation ;
perhaps no more delicate test exists of the
grain of an educated person's culture than
that of pronunciation. It is far more subtle

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